Juunishi and the Talismans
by Gemini Artemis
Summary: Crossover: Fruits Basket and Jackie Chan Adventures. What would have happened if the powers of the talismans had possessed the members of the Juunishi of the Souma family instead of animals? DISCONTINUED
1. Bound for Japan

I don't know if someone already wrote a JCAXFB crossover, but... I had this idea a long time ago. This story is set in the beginning of the third season of JCA, right after Jackie destroyed the talismans. 

Disclaimer: I don't own Jackie Chan Adventures and Fruits Basket. 

------

**Chapter 1: Bound for Japan**

"You mean that the power of the talismans ended up in normal humans now?" Black asked still not believing the whole story. 

"They are humans, but are not so normal. They are part of the Souma family." Uncle explained. 

"I never heard about that Souma family." Jade commented. 

"It's a very rich Japanese family that was cursed a long time ago. Thirteen members of the family turn into animals of the Chinese Zodiac." Uncle continued. 

"Thirteen? But I thought the Chinese Zodiac had only twelve animals." Jackie said. 

"The cat is part of the curse as well." the old man replied and everybody blinked in confusion. 

"The cat? Why?" Black wanted to know and Uncle shrugged. 

"Long story." 

"But how do you know they were possessed by the power of the talismans that Jackie destroyed?" Tohru asked rubbing the back of his head and Uncle whacked him with two fingers together. 

"Of course Uncle used a locator spell, and it indicated that all the powers are concentrated in only one place, in Japan!" he yelled. 

"So what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Jade said cheerfully. 

"She is right. We cannot let Daolon Wong find the power of the talismans before we do." Uncle said gloomily. 

-=-=-=-=-=-

Hatsuharu has just woken up. Yesterday had been a very strange day. He was watching the stars while resting from his training and suddenly a light reached him, though he did not feel any different. After that strange event, he had gone to his bed. And now he felt great, as if he were more agile. 

After getting changed, he went downstairs and headed to the kitchen to drink some water, but mysteriously he barely grabbed the glass and it broke. He tried to take another glass, but it broke as soon as he touched it as well. 

"Weird." he murmured to himself. Then gave up drinking water and decided to go out. When he opened the door, he was surprised to see it sliding away at high speed and running over everything in its way, even the wall. It ended up about fifteen meters away from the house. 

Hatsuharu raised a brow. He walked to a tree and punched it as slightly as he could. The tree immediately broke and was thrown just like the sliding door. The boy looked at his hands and smirked evilly. 

"It seems that the training was worth of something. Now I'll finally defeat Kyou!" 

-=-=-=-=-=-

The school's bells began to ring, announcing the end of the class and the time to go home. 

"Hanajima, what happened? You didn't take your eyes off the Prince and the Carrot Top today..." Arisa remarked. Saki looked at her right side, where she saw Yuki, Kyou and Tohru talking. 

"I've been feeling a strange wave from those two." Saki answered staring at the boys. Arisa laughed, straightening her hair. 

"What do you mean? You always feel strange waves from them." she reminded and Saki slowly turned to look at her. 

"This time is different. Some power from outside joined them somehow." she said gloomily and Arisa was serious. 

"Power from outside?" she confirmed in confusion and her friend nodded, then looked at the two boys again. 

"A power that abandoned them a long time ago and now is back." she continued and walked to Tohru. Arisa shrugged and decided to let the subject die. 

"Tohru-kun, we are going now. See you tomorrow." Saki said with a weak and cold smile. Arisa came after her, smiling a bit more cheerfully. 

"See you tomorrow, Tohru!" 

"Yes. See you tomorrow, Hana-chan, Uo-chan!" Tohru said smiling happily. Now Yuki was not talking to her anymore, but still watched her while Kyou was leaving the room. 

"Tohru-kun, take care." Saki whispered at the green-eyes girl and left with Arisa. Tohru felt a bit strange when hearing those words and still stood there staring at the door for a while, until finally hearing Kyou's angry voice yelling from the corridor. 

"Hey, you're coming or not?" 

She woke up from her thoughts with a startle. "Ah, yes!" she said nervously and rushed to take her schoolbag. "Yuki-kun, I'm going now! I have to prepare the dinner!" she quickly said bowing and left running to catch up Kyou. Yuki watched her and when glancing at her desk, he saw that she had forgotten a diary. 

_It's ok, I'll give it back to her later..._

"So, is everything decided?" the boy who he was talking to asked. 

"Yes, sure." Yuki answered slightly annoyed and a girl came in the room. 

"So? Are you going to represent us in that meeting in Tokyo?" she asked to Yuki, but it was the other boy who answered. 

"Yes, he has just confirmed it." 

"Let's go, Kakeru. We need you to do something." she said gesturing at him to follow her. 

"And I have to go now..." Yuki stated approaching Tohru's desk. 

"Ok. Bye then." the girl said waving her hand. 

"Bye." Kakeru said and the duo left. The diary was open in the following week, and there was a note. 

_My birthday!_

He widened his eyes. Next week was Tohru's birthday, but he would not be here. He has just confirmed that he would be in Tokyo, in a important meeting of the student council. But he had to do something, he could not let her birthday go unnoticed. 

-=-=-=-=-=-

"I'm home." Tohru announced when she opened the door of the house, but there was no answer. 

"I think he's not here." Kyou said behind her and began to go upstairs. Suddenly, Tohru remembered something and ran to call the orange-haired boy. 

"Ah, Kyou-kun! What happened to Hatsuharu-san? He didn't come to school today, and even Momiji-san didn't know where he was..." she said in worry and Kyou snapped. 

"Tch, and how am I supposed to know? He's probably training somewhere or just got lost!" he replied and continued going upstairs, but stopped when hearing a noise coming from outside. He and Tohru rushed to the front door to see what happened, and were surprised when seeing who was there. 

"Kyou!" a furious voice called. Kyou clenched his fists and Tohru's hair stood on end. 

"H-Ha... Ha... Hatsuharu-san!" 

-=-=-=-=-=-

Daolon Wong opened his eyes and looked at the small cauldron, where it was formed an image of a boy who should be fourteen or fifteen years old. He had white hair, though it was black in the bottom on his head. 

"Ah... The power of the super-strength." He got up and lifted his scepter to teleport himself to Japan. 

-=-=-=-=-=-

Shigure was coming back from the market, carrying some groceries. Suddenly, he was hit in the head by a ball. He turned around and saw that a little girl who should be five years old had accidentally thrown it at him. He took the ball and smiled. 

"Sorry, mister." she said sweetly and he knelt down, giving the ball back to her. 

"It's ok." he said tapping her head and got up. The girl began to run on the pavement playing with the ball, until it ended up bouncing to the street. The girl innocently ran after it, but Shigure noticed that a car was coming towards her. "Look out!" he shouted and hurried to save her. The girl looked at the car and was so scared that could not even move to try to escape. When the car was almost reaching her, Shigure jumped towards her to push her. 

Yuki was turning the corner and could just stare at the scene of Shigure being hit by the car and thrown few meters away. 

"Shigure!" he shouted running to his cousin. Some people who were there also approached and the middle-aged driver quickly got out of the car. 

"Oh my God! Is he alive?" someone asked. 

"It wasn't my fault! He jumped towards the car!" the driver defended. 

"Did he die?" a little boy asked. Yuki pushed his way past the group of people and knelt down. 

"Shigure! Shigure!" he called shaking his cousin hoping that he would wake up. And for everyone's surprise, he indeed woke up and rose as if nothing had happened. "Shigure? Are you all right...?" Yuki asked in confusion. 

"Yes, I'm fine. Just a headache..." Shigure answered rubbing the back of his head and when looked at his hand, he stared in shock when seeing it was covered in blood. 

"I don't understand... That was a mortal accident. You should have died." 

-=-=-=-=-=-

"Hatcha!" Uncle suddenly shouted when they were in the airport. 

"What is it, sensei?" Tohru asked and Uncle lifted the locator spell. 

"The locator spell has located the power of a talisman. Someone just used it." 

"Which talisman?" 

"The dog. It's the immortality." 

-=-=-=-=-=-

"Let's fight now, Kyou!" Hatsuharu demanded. Kyou looked at his left side and saw that a tree had been thrown at the house. 

"Alright!" he accepter, although he was pretty sure that Hatsuharu had a plan. 

"A-Ano..." Tohru stuttered nervously but Kyou moved her away and leaped forward, landing in front of his opponent. At that moment, Yuki and Shigure were arriving and stopped when the two boys started a fight. 

"Heeyaaa!" Kyou charged at Haru, who quickly hit in the stomach and Kyou and knocking him out. Yuki and Shigure stared surprised at him and Tohru was in panic. 

"Ahhh! Kyou-kun!" he shouted running to Kyou while Hatsuharu laughed evilly. 

"I finally defeated Kyou!" 

**To be continued...**

A/N: If you haven't noticed it yet, my first language is not English, so I bet this chapter has some grammar mistakes. If you want to correct them, I ask you to do it by e-mail. So, what do you think about this fic? Please review and tell me your opinion! Constructive criticism is accepted, but no flames, ok? 


	2. Tohru, meet Tohru!

Wow, only one chapter posted and I already got six reviews! So different from the JCA section! Thank you very much!! 

**AnimePerson** – Don't worry, I rarely give up my fics. In fact, I just translated this fic now because I had a horrible writer's block. This is actually a very old fic. 

**VampireNaomi** – I love Shigure too! And Kyou! I'm still deciding what I'm going to do with him, though. If you get too confused, you should visit some FB sites, they're in the links section of my site. 

**Alowl** – I still don't know about the cat, but I've planned something for the family head. I still have time, though. 

**Aura Black Chan** – Yes, yes, I know I suck at action scenes. That's why the battle in this chapter has a very poor description. But your sister could try the crossover idea too. I think it would be interesting to see other authors' point of view on how the two groups would react if they met. 

**CrazyInsaneAnimeFanGirl** – Ok, there you go, I hope you like this chapter too. n.n 

**Ariyana** – Thank you. Maybe my grammar is worse in that chapter because it was an old one. Or because I was in a great hurry when I translated that. Or just because it really is awkward. o.o" Thank you, anyway. It's good to know that my English is not bad even though I haven't studied it for five years. 

Daolon Wong is speaking in English in this fic, and the Juunish members speak in Japanese, but they also can understand some English. I'll use the following resort for **this** chapter: 

"blah, blah, blah" – Japanese   
"#blah, blah, blah#" – English 

Sorry if sometimes it gets confusing... They'll start to speak in English practically the whole time in future chapters, but if someone has a better idea, please tell me. 

------

**Chapter 2: Tohru, meet... Tohru?!**

Kyou opened his eyes with difficult. His head ached and he could just see someone's figure looking at him. Only after some while his sight was back to normal and he realized that the figure was Tohru, who was looking at him in worry. He slowly rose from his bed to sit. 

"Kyou-kun, are you all right?" she asked. 

"... I am... Ow... Where's Haru?" he asked pressing his head where he had been hit. 

"He left," she answered shortly. 

"Damn! How did he get so strong?" Kyou muttered to himself while the girl watched him quietly. Suddenly, she seemed to have remembered something. 

"Ah, I'll bring more ice," she said leaving the room. 

She went downstairs and saw Yuki, who was looking at her as if he had been waiting for her. His arms were crossed behind him, and he looked a bit uneasy. 

"Yuki-kun...?" 

"Honda-san, I want to give you something," he said showing that in one of his hands he was holding the diary she had forgotten in the school. 

"Ah, it's my diary!" she said a little surprised. 

"You forgot it in the school today," he said handing it to her. 

"Thank you, Yuki-kun," she said with her usual smile. 

"One more thing... Your diary was open in your birthday and I noted it is going to be next week. But since I'll be in Tokyo next week, I decided to buy you a present today..." he said showing that in his other hand he had a teddy bear. 

"Ah... Thank you very much!" she said nervously and they both blushed a little. She glanced at the teddy bear and noted that it glowed for one second. "Eh?" 

Yuki gave her the teddy bear, but when she held it, it bit her hand. 

"AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" she screamed more in surprised than in pain and instinctively threw it away from her, making it end up in the kitchen's sink. Tohru and Yuki hurried to the kitchen alarmed and Shigure, who was having a snack, looked at he sink when he heard the sound of something fell in the water. 

"Hey, I can't get wet! Do you want ruin me?!" the teddy bear snapped after jumping out the sink. The three humans stared in disbelief at it, their eyes widened. Tohru screamed horrified, and Yuki stood ahead her so protect her. 

"What's the meaning of this?" he asked completely confused and Shigure seemed to have had an idea. 

"Hey, don't you think we could get much money if we used it as a ventriloquist?" he asked smiling and Yuki glared at his cousin. 

"Shigure, don't say such a stupid thing! This is serious!" 

"What's going on?" Knyou asked going downstairs and rushing to the kitchen. 

"The teddy bear... is... alive...!" Tohru answered with some difficulty due to the shock and Kyou widened his eyes. 

"What?!" 

"You stupid humans, you'll never get me alive!" the teddy bear provoked and ran towards the only door. 

"Get him!" Shigure shouted and tried to grab the bear, but it managed to jump right on time and landed on the young man's back when he fell to the floor. 

"Come here, you!" Yuki and Kyou surrounded the bear to catch it at the same time, but it jumped again and the boys hit each other's head, falling to the floor as well. 

"A-Ano..." Tohru murmured trembling when the teddy bear ran under her legs. 

"Muhahahahaha!" the teddy bear laughed evilly and got out of the house. Shigure got up and turned to his two cousins, who still were lying in the floor with bumps on their heads. 

"You two, get up! Get that bear!" 

As soon as the group left the house, there was a kind of explosion right in front of them. When the purple smoke started to fade, they saw the teddy bear completely destroyed and a weird old man facing them. 

His skin was very pale and sort of grey, his eyes had different colors and there was a black symbol on his forehead. He was wearing a black robe and holding a glowing scepter, which he apparently had used to decimate the teddy bear. They stared both surprised and apprehensive at the wizard, who smirked in victory. 

"#What a stroke of luck to find two talisman powers in one go,#" he said and pointed at Shigure. "#I'll start with you, and absorb the power of immortality!#" 

"What did he say?" Kyou asked. 

"He's speaking in English. He said that he's going to absorb the power of immortality," Yuki answered. 

"What? Immortality...?" Shigure murmured and then remembered of when he was run over but did not die. However, before any of them could do anything, the mysterious wizard used the power of his scepter to pull Shigure closer to him and began to speak some strange words that did not seem to belong to any known language. One mouth appeared in each of his hands and he finally grabbed Shigure with them. 

"What are you doing?" "Stop it!" Yuki and Kyou attacked the old wizard, who did not suffer anything and interrupted his spell, turning to face them and use his scepter. The two boys were sucked by the ground and got stuck in the shoulder length. 

He then continued his spell on Shigure, who could not move. Tohru just stared at the scene in shock and unable to help them. She closed her eyes, trying to hold her tears. 

_Oh, no... What am I going to do now...?_

"Stop that, please!" she shouted in desperation, but the wizard just smiled, ignoring her. 

"Daolon Wong!" an unknown voice shouted and Tohru opened her eyes to see a group of four people, all of them eastern. There was a young man, a little girl, a huge man who reminded her of a sumo fighter and an old man, who was holding a glowing blowfish. The wizard was lying in the ground, trying to get up, and Shigure ran to stand beside her. 

"#You!#" the wizard snapped and the old man aimed the fish at him. The other smiled and lifted his scepter. "Gan, Ren, Chui!" he said aloud and three beings appeared in front of him. They looked humans, but their skin was orange, their ears were pointed and they had vertical eyelids. 

"#Wow!#" one of them said, glancing at his own hands. 

"#Cool!#" the one beside him said doing the same and the third one looked at the newcomers. 

"Chan!" 

"#Dark chi warriors, get them!#" the wizard ordered and the three creatures charged the two youngest men while the older one used his blowfish to shoot greenish rays at their master. 

It was not a surprise that the bigger man was extremely strong, but the skills of the man who was wearing a blue shirt and khaki trousers were amazing. He was probably much better than Yuki and Kyou! 

"#Hey, don't just stand there! Give me a hand here!#" the little girl shouted to Shigure and Tohru before beginning to dig up the two boys. The green-eyed girl glanced at Shigure, who shrugged. Even though they did not understand what was going on, they knew that they had to help them out. 

Once free, the boys joined the fight against the warriors, proving to be excellent fighter too. With four skilled fighters, it did not take too long until the three dark chi warriors got defeated, turned into smoke and faded away. Soon the wizard called Daolon Wong was surrounded by the two groups. 

"#We shall meet again, old man,#" he said glaring at his rival and used his scepter again to teleport himself. 

"#Yes!#" the little girl commemorated and Tohru approached the group, her hands crossed on her chest and her eyes sparkling. 

"Thank you very much for helping us! You are impressive!" 

The foreigner group stared at her. Apparently, they had no idea what she had just said, but the bigger man smiled. 

"You are welcome," he said. 

"#Oh, that's right! Tohru is Japanese!#" the little girl stated and smiled. "#Tell them who we are, T!#" 

"#But... how should I start...?#" he asked unsure. He glanced at the two groups, they were all waiting for him to say something. He smiled shyly and was about to say something, but the old man beside him interrupted him when the blowfish began to glow. 

"#The locator spell has found the powers of immortality and motion to the motionless!#" he announced, aiming the blowfish at Yuki and Shigure. "Tohru!" he called. 

"#Yes?#" the bigger man replied at the same time that Tohru said "Yes!" in Japanese. 

They stared at them for a while until the old man break the silence, snorting. 

"#Uncle did not talk to you, girl! Was talking to my apprentice Tohru!#" he snapped pointing at her and to the Japanese man. The girl blinked in confusion, though she had understood what he said. 

"#But my name is Tohru...#" she replied, surprising everybody both because she spoke in English and because of the coincidence. 

"#Woah! Two Tohrus?!" the little girl said. 

**To be continued...**

Sometimes I feel like writing words in Japanese for Tohru. Things like "Arigatou gozaimashita", "Hai!" and "sugoi!" are very easy to understand, but... oh well... 


	3. Making Acquaintances

**A/N:** My most sincere apologies for taking absurdly so long to update. I had a horrible writer's block and have been very busy. But here it is, at last! To make up for the delay—and also because it was requested—this chapter is longer than the previous ones. Perhaps the next will be even longer. I hope you like it!

Oh, and I decided to keep the endings "-san", "-kun", etc. I just can't imagine them calling each other without those.

* * *

–**CHAPTER 3–  
**_**Making Acquaintances**_

Although Yuki could understand some English and the enormous man called Tohru was Japanese, the group was having some communication problems. Seemingly, Tohru had lived in the United States for so long with no contact with his mother tongue that his Japanese was a bit rusty; he changed the order of the words, confused and forgot words and expressions... He seemed to understand perfectly what they said to him, but got confused when he had to reply.

Despite that, Shigure and Yuki still managed to invite them in. Kyou didn't trust them very much, and Yuki couldn't blame him, though he would never admit aloud that he agreed with him. Indeed, these strangers were very... well, strange. But it didn't look like they meant them any harm; they had even helped in the fight against that old wizard. Despite himself, Kyou wasn't so reluctant to let them in, either, for he looked curious and impressed by that young man's martial skills.

Apparently, Tohru understood more when it was Honda who spoke to him, so Yuki let her do all the talking and just watched the group of visitors. The little girl wouldn't stop asking Tohru what Honda was saying. The young man next to her just looked about rather nervously. The old man didn't pay attention to any of them, just frowned and shook a dead blowfish while murmuring strange words. It didn't sound like English, but somewhat Chinese.

Suddenly, everyone's throats glowed green. Honda screamed out and accidentally dropped the tray she had been bringing from the kitchen with tea cups, breaking them and spilling all of their contents on the floor. Kyou jumped on his feet and stood on a threatening fighting pose.

"What's that? What're you doing, grandpa?" he demanded to know.

"Just a spell. This way we can understand each other without the need of an interpreter," the old man answered. Yuki's eyes widened a little as he realised the old man had just spoken fluent Japanese. His cousins and Honda must have noticed the same thing, for they looked very surprised as well.

"Wow, I didn't know you could do that, Uncle!" the little girl commented. "Well, that means now we can introduce ourselves properly!" she added, standing up, and turned to the group on the other side of the table. "I'm Jade Chan, this is my Uncle Jackie Chan," she said, gesturing at the young man, then at Tohru and the old man. "This is Tohru, and that is Uncle."

"Uncle?" Honda repeated, puzzled. Yuki also had to wonder if that was his real name, which would be indeed very odd.

"Yeah, just Uncle," Jade answered, grinning.

"Why's that?" Kyou asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Because..." Jade actually had to think about it for a moment. "Well, because he's Uncle!" she said if that explained everything.

They didn't find that answer satisfactory, but seeing they wouldn't get anywhere—especially when Jade herself didn't know the answer—, they let the subject drop.

"Nice to meet you," Tohru and Jackie said. "Uncle" just nodded in greeting.

"My name is Tohru Honda. I am glad to meet you," Honda said, bowing. Very polite, as usual, Yuki noted, smiling slightly.

"Funny how your name is Tohru, too, even though you're a girl," Jade remarked. "Maybe Tohru is a neutral name in Japanese?"

"I am Yuki Souma," Yuki said before Tohru could answer Jade's question.

"And I am Shigure Souma." Shigure pointed at Kyou when the latter just stared in silence, apparently concentrated on something. "And this is Kyou Souma. Heehee, it seems the cat got his tongue. A cannibal cat! Ahahaha! That was great!"

Yuki suppressed the urge to roll his eyes when hearing this attempt at a joke. Kyou also heard it and glared daggers at Shigure while the latter laughed. Honda laughed softly as well. Their guests, however, couldn't understand what was so funny. Not a surprise; they didn't know about the curse of the Souma family.

"Uh, I noticed you three have the same surname. Are you brothers?" Jackie asked.

"We're cousins, actually," Shigure answered, catching his breath.

"Unfortunately," Yuki muttered under his breath.

"Well, now that we can talk to each other properly," Kyou began, sitting down. "can somebody explain what just happened out there? Who was that freaky old man?"

"His name is Daolon Wong, a dark chi wizard," Uncle answered slowly. He was silent for a moment and watched each one of the group across the table before speaking again, "I suppose strange things have been happening you lately, right? Things you cannot explain with logic?"

The three Soumas and Honda glanced at each other. Kyou looked suspicious once more.

"How do you know about that?"

"My locator spell recently sensed activity of two talismans."

"Talismans?" Kyou interrupted him. Jade stood up again, leaning on the table.

"You see, the talismans are magical objects. There're twelve of them, each one representing an animal from the Chinese zodiac." She excitedly jumped onto the table, much to Jackie's chagrin. "And they have fantastic powers that can be—"

"Jade!" Jackie exclaimed, shocked. "Get down, right now!"

"Oops! Sorry." She smiled apologetically and sat down next to her uncle.

"As she said, each talisman has its own power," Uncle continued. "A while ago, Wong tried to steal them, but they got destroyed during the fight and their powers were released. Thus, they sought a new vessel. My locator spell indicated that all of them were here in Japan, and the last two powers to be activated were the immortality and motion to the motionless."

Yuki and Shigure looked at each other, thinking exactly the same thing.

"Immortality? That is why you escaped unharmed from that accident, Shigure!" Yuki said.

"Accident? What accident?" Honda asked in concern.

"Oh, it's just that I was run over by a car on my way home, but I wasn't harmed. I mean, my head was injured, but now I don't feel anything. It just... healed itself," Shigure explained, unconsciously touching his head on the spot he had been injured.

"And the other thing you said... 'motion to the motionless'... What does it mean?" Kyou wanted to know.

"Simple. It means any unanimated object can come to life," Jade said.

"The teddy bear!" Honda exclaimed, beginning to comprehend what had happened.

"What teddy bear?" Jackie asked.

"A teddy bear... it suddenly began to talk and walk. It was very strange and... scary."

"I see. Now everything makes sense. Then it was a magical talisman..." Yuki murmured to himself, deep in thought.

"Only one thing doesn't make sense," Jade said, frowning. "Why did the talismans possess them?" she asked, gesturing at the two Soumas. "When you said they were part of a cursed family that turned into animals, I expected to find _animals_! But they look like ordinary humans to me."

The old man snorted. "Don't you ever listen to Uncle? Thirteen members of the family turn into animals from the Chinese zodiac when they are hugged by someone of the opposite sex!"

"You never said anything about hugs and opposite sex!" Jade protested, but the four residents of this house were more surprised by something else.

"H-How... How did you know... about the curse?" Kyou asked, alarmed.

The old man gestured dismissively. "The story of the Souma family's curse can be found in any book about ancient eastern curses."

Yuki paled. The curse was supposed to be a secret! Was Akito aware that people from the other side of the world knew about the curse? If not, what if—

"So..." Jade interrupted his thoughts, watching both Yuki and Shigure carefully. "You must turn into a dog and a mouse, right?"

Yuki gulped and nodded after some hesitation. Shigure nodded as well.

"Anyway, we came here as fast as possible to remove those powers from you and take them to a safe place," Uncle said.

After the incident with the maniacal teddy bear, Yuki had no desire to repeat the experience, and this time he promptly nodded. "You may start right now, sir," he said firmly. Shigure, on the other hand, didn't look so enthusiastic about it.

"Is that really necessary? If it weren't for this talisman thing, I wouldn't even be alive now! Can't I keep it?" he asked whiningly. Yuki looked away, ashamed of his older cousin's childish behaviour.

"If you want to keep the power of the dog talisman, Daolon Wong will come after you for sure," Uncle replied seriously. Shigure shuddered.

"Well, don't waste your time, then!"

"But if Yuki-kun and Shigure-san have been possessed by the powers of the talismans of the same animals which they transform into, does that mean the others will have magical powers, too?" Honda asked slowly.

"That's right," Uncle answered.

"And that crazy old man will go after them too?" Kyou continued.

"Certainly," Tohru said.

"So we're gonna have to fight him and those other orange-skinned guys again?" the boy concluded, getting excited.

"Uh..."

"And the others will be in danger, too!" Honda exclaimed, beginning to panic.

"Calm down, please. We will help them. Do you happen to know where we can find the others?" Jackie asked.

"Yes, of course, we must go help them immediately!"

"Another activated talisman power was super strength, remember, Uncle?" Jade pointed out and he nodded.

"Super strength? Oh, so that's why Haru was so strong!" Kyou shouted, banging his fist on the table, nearly breaking it.

"He was here not so long ago! He surely will be Daowon Long's next victim!" Honda said.

"That's Daolon Wong," Jade corrected, but no one paid her any attention.

"Where did he go?" Jackie asked, standing up.

"I... I don't know..." Honda murmured in aguish.

"It's all right, the locator spell can find him," Uncle assured them.

"C'mon, let's go, then!" Kyou was the first one to leave the house, looking pleased not only with the prospect of fighting, but also that of seeing Hatsuharu's super strength being taken away from him. And speaking of taking powers away...

"Wait a minute! Won't you remove the power of the rat talisman from me?" Yuki asked them.

"Ah, you two can keep them for the time being. Since you are going to help us, they may as well be quite useful."

Yuki didn't remember having told them he would help. After all, the Chans defeated the wizard called Daolon Wong and his henchmen pretty easily, and with Kyou's help there was hardly any need for Yuki to go with them. However, Honda was going with them, and Yuki didn't want her to risk her life. Sighing in resignation, he stood up and joined the group.

"Well, since now I am immortal, I don't mind helping you too," Shigure remarked conceitedly, being the last to get out of the house. "Hey, if I am immortal, does that mean I am some kind of god or something?"

"No," Yuki, Jade, Uncle, and Kyou resolutely answered at the same time. Shigure didn't hear them—or just pretended not to—and gave in to his daydreams.

------

As expected, at first it was difficult to find Hatsuharu, since they couldn't guess where he was. Theoretically, he should have gone back to the Main House, but knowing his sense of direction, he had most likely ended up on the other side of the city.

"We'll never find him like this!" Kyou snapped. Uncle then took a bell out of his bag and began to chant in Chinese. The bell glowed green and vibrated slightly. The old wizard raised it above his head and let it indicate the right way.

"This way," he said quietly.

They ended up in the woods that surrounded Shigure's house. The two younger Soumas began to doubt if the "locator spell" was really working, but in a few minutes, they found Hatsuharu wandering around, sort of adrift.

"Hatsuharu-san!" Honda called him, relieved for seeing that he was all right. Hatsuharu turned around when he heard her voice.

"So you're the ox guy?" Jade said, looking at him up and down. She seemed to find it odd that a fourteen-year-old possessed the super strength. His calm appearance was deceiving also, merely because he was on the "White" mode at the moment.

"What's the matter?" he asked in confusion. Honda very hurriedly told him everything the Chans had explained to them. When she was done and stared at him anxiously, he looked only slightly surprised.

"So what?"

They all stared at him in disbelief. That certainly wasn't the reply they had been expecting.

"What do you mean, 'so what?' Didn't you hear what she just said? You can't just go around like that, you're in great danger!" Jade snapped in exasperation.

"If that so-called wizard you told me about comes after me, I can simply beat him up. Am I not super strong now?" he questioned coolly.

Then, the old man did something unexpected; he whacked Hatsuharu in the head with only two fingers. The boy probably wasn't using his super strength, for he yelped and rubbed his head where he had been hit.

"Daolon Wong is a wizard like me! If I have the power to remove your power, then so does he!"

He had a point, and Hatsuharu agreed with him after pondering for a moment.

"Hey, he could be a big help, being so strong and all!" Jade told Jackie.

"I suppose."

Uncle was about to add something, but stopped when something inside his bag began to glow. He searched for it and produced a rattle.

"The power of the snake talisman is near and active," he stated.

"The snake?" Honda repeated slowly.

Yuki twitched. The snake of the Souma family was his annoying elder brother, Ayame. Yuki didn't want to see him, especially now when Ayame had a magical power and would spend the whole day showing off. Great, that was all he needed...

For a moment, he considered if he should give up helping them look for the other members of the zodiac and go hide before Ayame saw him. However, as he watched Honda running after the group, guided by the rattle, Yuki decided to put that idea aside and keep following them.

------

Hatori was comfortably sitting in his room, writing down a list of medicines that he had to buy, when he suddenly heard footsteps outside. Probably Ayame or Shigure again. He ignored them and went back to his list.

He heard more footsteps and knocks on wood. Whoever it was, they were asking for permission to enter. Sighing, a bit annoyed by the interruption, Hatori stood up and opened the door. He glanced around, but didn't see anyone near the house. Either one of his dear relatives was pulling a prank or him, or he was imagining things.

_Maybe I should rest a little_, he thought while going back to what he had been doing.

Half a minute later the door was opened. Hatori immediately looked up, but still didn't see anyone. He couldn't be imagining things this time, and a sliding door could hardly be opened by the wind—especially when there was no wind at all.

He stood up once more and walked to the door. There wasn't any person or animal around. Intrigued, he closed the door.

"Ha-to-ri..." a voice whispered behind him. He jumped and turned around. Surprisingly, he was alone in the room.

"Who's there?" he asked, unafraid. He felt something blowing on his left ear and turned again.

"I have returned from the dead to haunt you, Hatori..." the voice said in an attempt to sound spooky, but Hatori immediately recognised it and sighed heavily.

"Ayame!"

"How did you it was me?" Ayame asked in his normal voice. Hatori had the feeling Ayame was just two metres away from him, and yet he was nowhere to be seen.

"Where are you, Ayame?"

Ayame laughed. "I'm here, Tori-san!"

"Where is _here_?"

"Over here!" now the disembodied voice came from the other side of the room.

"Stop fooling around, Ayame! Show yourself at once!"

"I can't!"

Hatori frowned. After a moment of silence, he asked, "You can't?"

"All of a sudden, I became invisible. I don't know how to go back to normal."

_Invisible?_

"Ayame, I—"

"Oh, I had a great idea! I'm going to make Yuki a surprise!"

"Oh, no... No, Ayame!"

The door was opened and Hatori heard quick footsteps out of the room. He ran and reached out for him, but grabbed nothing and could just listen to the other's laugh at some distance.

Hatori sighed. He still didn't understand what exactly was going on, but he was sure that Ayame was looking for trouble. He was alarmed just to think of Yuki's reaction when he found out his older brother was now invisible.

Yes, he could have to go after him.

------

To everyone's surprise, the rattle which was supposed to track the snake talisman took them back to Shigure's house. Everything looked exactly the way they had left it, and for a moment even Uncle wondered if there was something wrong with the locator spell.

"Odd," Jade commented, looking around unenthusiastically.

"Hmm, the locator spells is working fine," Uncle stated after some inspection.

"Then why can't we see anyone?" Kyou asked, also disappointed.

"'See'..." Jackie murmured, rubbing his chin. Suddenly, he seemed to realise something. "Of course we can't see anyone! The power of the snake talisman is invisibility!"

Yuki froze. Ayame? Invisible? It was like a nightmare! He really should have escaped when he had had the chance...

The rattle glowed more intensely.

"Yuuuuuuuuuuukiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" a cheerful voice resounded behind them, making them all jump in fright and involuntarily turn around.

"He's here," Uncle announced, pointing the rattle, which was now glowing even more, towards the door.

Wordlessly, Yuki went to the cupboard where they kept some paint buckets. Tightening his grip on one of them as he listened to Ayame's loud and irritating laugh, he took a deep breath to calm down. When he went back to the sitting room, Ayame addressed to him.

"Ah, Yuki, there you are! I know you can't see me, but it's me, your elder brother! That's a great surprise, isn't it? Hahahah! Ah, I see you have some new friends here!"

Completely calm, as if he did it every day, Yuki threw the pink-coloured paint onto the spot the rattle indicated. Thus, everyone could see Ayame standing on the middle of the sitting room.

"Quick, take off his power!" Yuki whispered dangerously, his eyes flashing threateningly and scaring even Jade.

"Take off my power? I won't be invisible anymore? But I'm enjoying it so much!" Ayame protested.

"Yeah, that's not fair!" Shigure intervened to support him. "If we can keep our talisman powers, why can't _he_?"

"Shigure, do you _really_ want to let Ayame wander around invisible?" Kyou questioned sarcastically. "Just think about it."

"But... he is covered in paint now, so I think there is no problem—" Honda tried to defend him, but Ayame began to laugh again.

"I can take care of that! I just need to clean myself and—" He unbuttoned his clothes and took them off before anyone could stop him. Honda and Jade screamed out and turned around, closing their eyes and blushing.

"Ayame, what do you _think_ you're doing?" Yuki hissed, flushing in embarrassment. Jackie, Tohru, and Uncle looked very disturbed and could just stare.

"Don't worry, Yuki, never fear. I'm invisible, anyway. Now, I just have to wash this paint off my face—"

"Hurry, Uncle!" Yuki shouted urgently. Uncle flinched and almost dropped the blowfish, but quickly recovered from the initial shock and began to cast the spell to remove the invisibility power from Ayame's body.

Jade half-turned. "Can I see it now?"

"No!" Jackie shouted in alarm. "Especially not now!"

"Put some clothes on already! No one here wants to see _that_!" Kyou ordered. Shigure chuckled while Ayame redressed.

Four snaps were heard outside and everyone turned to see what was there at the moment a voice complained, "Oh, no, not here again!"

"Do you think Chan is gone now?" someone else asked.

"Daolon Wong!" Uncle gasped. Kyou smirked pleased and cracked his knuckles, preparing to fight.

"Honda-san, try to find a safe place to hide in," Yuki whispered, also getting ready.

"Yes!"

"Who just arrived? More new friends of yours, Yuki?" Ayame asked curiously. He had just finished talking and an explosion completely destroyed what was left of the sliding door, along with the whole sitting room.

"Why? Why do they always destroy my house?" Shigure whined, falling on knees dramatically. No one paid him any attention.

The old dark chi wizard and his mutant henchmen entered the house. As he saw the group, Daolon Wong smiled evilly.

"Well, well, well, look at this. Now there are four of them reunited!" he said in triumph.

**To be continued...**

* * *

Thank you very much to my dear reviewers: **Ariyana** (Sorry I didn't replied before, but I couldn't find your e-mail address... Anyway, the boar has heat-beam eyes), **CrazyInsaneAnimeFanGirl**, **FoxyFireDemon**, **Aura Black Chan**, **Hiei's Vampire Kitten**, **GirlWaterShaman**, **s.l. chanco**, **VampireNaomi**, and **sakurafairy**. I love you all! 


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